A stream is any body of running water, large or small, that flows under the influence of gravity toward lower elevations in a relatively narrow, clearly defined channel. Each major drainage system in Oklahoma con-sists of a principal river, with many smaller tributary rivers, streams, and creeks funneling water to the main course.

The condition and flow rates of Oklahoma streams are temporary in terms of geologic time. Stream positions shift as they cut deeper chan-nels into their banks, while their tributaries erode nearby uplands. Major drainage systems of today were established during the Pleistocene (the last 1.6 million years). Streams flowed across Oklahoma for millions of years before finally carving out today’s major drainage basins. The posi-tions of earlier streams are marked now by alluvial deposits remaining as stream terraces, high above the flood plains of today’s streams that are eroding deeper into underlying rocks.

All major streams in Oklahoma have broad, sand-filled channels with active water courses occupying a small portion of the river bed or flood plain. These broad, sand-filled channels reflect large changes in discharge (floods) that occur from time to time. Many man-made dams on major streams and tributaries, however, have decreased flooding frequency and

magnitude. As a result, active water courses gradually are stabilizing within their broad stream beds.

All Oklahoma streams are within two major drainage basins: the Red River basin, and the Arkansas River basin (see page 14). The two rivers and their many tributaries flow into Oklahoma from neighboring states, while all surface water from Oklahoma flows into Arkansas, via the Red, Arkansas, and Little Rivers, and Lee Creek. Major rivers and tributaries flow mainly east and southeast across Oklahoma.

Six scenic rivers flow in eastern Oklahoma and several natural salt plains and saline rivers are present in the west. Five scenic rivers in the Arkansas River drainage are in Adair, Cherokee, Delaware, and Sequoyah Counties in the Ozark Plateau. They include parts of the Illinois River (1, see map), and Flint (2), Baron Fork (3), Little Lee (4), and Lee (5) Creeks. The upper part of Mountain Fork (6), which flows into Broken Bow Lake in the Ouachita Mountains in McCurtain County, is in the Red River drainage.

Natural salt plains occur along some rivers where natural brines seep to the surface. In the Arkansas River drainage, Great Salt Plains (1) on

Salt Fork is the largest salt flat covering about 25 square miles. Others in northwestern Oklahoma are Big Salt Plain (2) and Little Salt Plain (3) on the Cimarron River, and Ferguson Salt Plain (4) in Blaine County. Salt plains in the Red River drainage are Boggy Creek Salt Plain (5) on North Fork Red River; Kiser (6), Robinson (7), and Chaney (Salton) (8) Salt Plains on Elm Fork in north Harmon County; and Jackson County Salt Plain (9). Downstream in both drainage basins, fresh-water inflow dilutes saline river waters, making the water usable for municipalities, livestock, and industrial purposes before reaching Keystone Lake or Lake Texoma.

There are many lakes and reservoirs in Oklahoma; most are man-made, created by damming streams for flood control, water supply, rec-reation, fish, wildlife, and hydroelectric power. Lakes on the Arkansas and Verdigris Rivers aid in navigation along the McClellan-Kerr Navi-gation System. Major lakes are formed behind dams built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, and the Grand River Dam Authority. Various state and federal agencies, cities, and other entities own and operate large lakes. Farmers and landowners have built

many smaller lakes and ponds. Table 4 lists the 20 Oklahoma lakes with the largest surface areas.

A series of oxbow and playa lakes are the only natural lakes in Okla-homa (Oklahoma Water Resources Board, 1990). Typically crescent-shaped, oxbow lakes occupy abandoned channels of meandering streams and occur mainly in flood plains of the Red, Arkansas, Washita, North Canadian, and Verdigris Rivers in central and eastern Oklahoma. Okla-homa has 62 oxbow lakes covering at least 10 acres each; the largest, near Red River in McCurtain County, covers 272 acres (Oklahoma Water Resources Board, 1990).

Playa lakes form in shallow, saucer-like depressions scattered across the semiarid High Plains in northwestern Oklahoma and the Panhandle. Playa lakes have no outflow, holding water during and after rainy seasons before evaporating, or losing water by infiltrating into the ground. Okla-homa has about 600 of these intermittent or ephemeral playa lakes, but only a few persist year-round (Oklahoma Water Resources Board, 1990).

RIVERS, STREAMS, AND LAKES OF OKLAHOMAKenneth S. Johnson and Kenneth V. Luza, Oklahoma Geological Survey

Table 4. Major lakes and reservoirs in Oklahoma

Lake Area DrainageAreaa Capacity Location

Normal Pool Normal Pool (acres) (square miles) (acre-feet) County/Counties

Eufaula 105,500 47,522 2,314,600 McIntosh; Pittsburg; HaskellTexoma 88,000 39,719 2,643,300 Love; Marshall; Bryan; JohnstonGrand Lake O’ the 46,500 10,298 1,672,000 Delaware; Ottawa; Mayes CherokeesRobert S. Kerr 43,800 147,756 525,700 Haskell; Sequoyah; Le Flore Oologah 29,460 4,339 553,400 Rogers; NowataKeystone 23,610 74,506 557,600 Osage; Pawnee; Creek; TulsaFort Gibson 19,900 12,492 365,200 Wagoner; Cherokee; MayesKaw 17,040 46,530 428,600 Kay; OsageBroken Bow 14,200 754 918,070 McCurtainSardis 13,610 275 274,330 Pushmataha; LatimerHugo 13,250 1,709 157,600 ChoctawTenkiller 12,900 1,610 654,100 Cherokee; SequoyahWebbers Falls 11,600 97,033 170,100 MuskogeeHudson 10,900 11,533 220,300 MayesSkiatook 10,190 354 322,700 OsageWaurika 10,100 562 203,100 Jefferson; Stephens; CottonFoss 8,880 1,496 256,220 CusterGreat Salt Plains 8,690 3,200 31,420 AlfalfaCanton 7,910 12,483 111,310 Blaine; DeweyWister 7,333 993 62,360 Le Flore aData from the Oklahoma Water Resources Board (1990).

EDUCATIONAL PUBLICATION 9: 2008Page 12, Rivers, Streams, and Lakes

Scenic River; number corresponds to name in text

Salt Plain; number corresponds to name in text

EXPLANATION

MAPSYMBOL

An “aquifer” consists of rocks and sediments saturated with good- to fair-quality water, and that is sufficiently permeable to yield water from wells at rates greater than 25 gal/min (gallons per minute). This map shows the distribution of the principal aquifers in Oklahoma and was modified from Marcher (1969), Marcher and Bingham (1971), Hart (1974), Bingham and Moore (1975), Carr and Bergman (1976), Havens (1977), Bingham and Bergman (1980), Morton (1981), Marcher and Bergman (1983), and John-son (1983).

Bedrock aquifers in Oklahoma consist of sandstone, sand, limestone, dolomite, gypsum, or fractured novaculite and chert. Aquifer thicknesses range from 100 ft to several thousand feet. Depth to fresh water ranges from a few feet to more than 1,000 ft; most wells are 100–400 ft deep. Wells in

these aquifers yield 25–300 gal/min, although some wells yield as much as 600–2,500 gal/min. Water in most bedrock aquifers has low to moderate mineral content, about 300–1,500 milligrams per liter dissolved solids.

Ground water is also present in Quaternary alluvium and terrace depos-its that consist mainly of unconsolidated sand, silt, clay, and gravel. “Al-luvium” refers to sediments in present-day stream channels or flood plains, whereas “terrace deposits” refer to older alluvium that remains (usually at an elevation above the present-day flood plain) after a stream shifts its po-sition or cuts a deeper channel. Alluvium and terrace deposits are among the most recent geologic deposits; therefore, they overlie bedrock aquifers where the two are mapped together. The thickness of Quaternary deposits ranges from 10 to 50 ft (locally up to 100 ft). Wells in alluvium and terrace

deposits yield 10–500 gal/min of water (locally several thousand gal/min); most of this ground water has less than 1,000 milligrams per liter dissolved solids.

Fresh water stored in Oklahoma aquifers results from the downward movement of meteoric (precipitation) and surface waters that enter each aquifer at its recharge area. Fresh water may displace saline water that origi-nally may have occupied parts of the aquifer. The system is dynamic; water percolating downward to the water table recharges the aquifer continuously. The vertical or horizontal rate of ground-water flow in the aquifers probably ranges from 5 to 100 ft per year; under certain geologic and hydrologic con-ditions, such as in cavernous or highly fractured rocks, flow can range up to more than 1,000 ft per year.

Large areas of Oklahoma, shown uncolored on the map, are underlain mostly by shale or other low-permeability rocks that typically yield only enough water for household use (about 1–5 gal/min). Highly mineralized (saline) water, unfit for most uses, is present beneath fresh-water zones in these rocks, and beneath fresh-water aquifers. The depth to the top of this saline water ranges from less than 100 ft in some places, up to 3,000 ft in the Arbuckle Mountains.

The Oklahoma Water Resources Board (1990) estimated that Oklaho-ma’s principal aquifers contain 320 million acre-feet of fresh water, perhaps half of which is recoverable for beneficial use. Wells and springs tapping these aquifers currently supply more than 60% of the water used in Okla-homa, chiefly in the west where surface-water is less abundant.

PRINCIPAL GROUND-WATER RESOURCES OF OKLAHOMAKenneth S. Johnson, Oklahoma Geological Survey

EDUCATIONAL PUBLICATION 9: 2008 Principal Ground-Water Resources, Page 13

1Symbols in parentheses indicate geologic age, as shown on the Geologic Map of Oklahoma on page 6.

AQUIFER

Quaternary alluvium andterrace deposits (Q)1

Ogallala Formation (T)

Antlers Sandstone(Trinity Group) (K1)

Elk City Sandstone (P4)

Rush Springs Sandstoneand Marlow Formation (P3)

Blaine Formation andDog Creek Shale (P2)

Cedar Hills Sandstone (P2)

Garber Sandstone andWellington Formation (P1)

Oscar Group, area a (P1)

Oscar Group, area b (P1)

Vamoosa Formation andAda Group (P3)

Noxie Sandstone (P3)

Keokuk and Reeds SpringFormations (“Boone”) (M)

Arkansas Novaculite andBigfork Chert (M, D, S, O)

Roubidoux, Gasconade, andEminence Formations (O, )

Simpson and ArbuckleGroups (O, )

Arbuckle and TimberedHills Groups (O, )

PRINCIPALLITHOLOGY

Sand, silt, and gravel

Sand, silt, and gravel

Sandstone and sand

Sandstone

Sandstone

Gypsum and dolomite

Sandstone

Sandstone

Sandstone

Sandstone

Sandstone

Sandstone

Limestone and cherty limestone

Fractured chert andnovaculite

Cherty dolomite andsandstone

Limestone, dolomite,and sandstone

Limestone, dolomite,and some sandstone

COMMON YIELD(gallons per minute)

10–500(up to 2,000)

25–1,500

10–50

25–300

25–300

300–2,500

150–300

25–400

25–50

50–180

25–150

10–50

5–50

10–50

50–250

25–600

25–600

GENERAL MINERALCONTENT OF WATER

Low to high (alluvium);low (terraces)

Low

Low to moderate

Low

Low to moderate; moderate to high in north

Moderate to high

Low to high

Low to moderate

Low to moderate

Low to moderate

Low to moderate

Low to moderate

Low

Low

Low to moderate

Low

Low to moderate

EXPLANATION

OklahomaiswithintheRedRiverandArkansasRiverbasins (Fig.20);aboutone-third iswithin theRedRiverdrainagebasin.TwosmalltributariesineasternNewMex-ico join to form the Red River. The Red River flows east through theTexasPanhandle,along theOklahoma-Texasborder, and through Arkansas and Louisiana to its conflu-encewiththeAtchafalayaRiverneartheMississippiRiver.TheArkansas River originates near Leadville, Colorado,flows east to Great Bend, Kansas, then southeast entering Oklahoma in Kay County, and then flows into Arkansas nearFortSmithbeforeeventuallyenteringtheMississip-piRiverinsoutheasternArkansas. TheOklahomaWaterResources Board (OWRB) divides Oklahoma into stream systemsandsubsystemstomanagesurfacewaterresources

better (Table 5). OWRB matches stream-system boundaries anddrainageareastothehydrologicboundariesdevelopedby the U.S. Geological Survey (U.S. Geological Survey, 1976; Seaber and others, 1987; and Rea and Becker, 1997). TheRedRiverdrainagebasininOklahomaissubdividedinto 18 stream systems; three (1-8, 1-13, and 1-15) aredividedfurther intostreamsubsystems(Varghese,1998).TheArkansasRiverbasininOklahomaissubdividedinto17streamsystems;four(2-5,2-6,2-9,and2-15)aredivid-ed further into stream subsystems (Fabian and Kennedy, 1998).Table5summarizesthetotalestimatedavailablewaterforeachstreamsystemorsubsystem.TheRedRiverbasincontainsabout10,750,000acre-feetofavailablewater;the

STREAM SYSTEMS OF OKLAHOMAKenneth V. Luza,

Oklahoma Geological Survey

Figure 20. Arkansas River and Red River drainage basins as defined by the U.S. Geological Survey (Seaber and other, 1987).

EDUCATIONAL PUBLICATION 9:2008Page14,StreamSystems

Table 5. Total estimated available water for each stream system or subsystem in the Red River and Arkansas River drainage basins within Oklahoma.

aTributaries not shown on the map of stream systems are shown on page 12 (Rivers, Streams, and Lakes of Oklahoma).b Where watersheds extend into nearby states, the drainage area for Oklahoma was estimated. Therefore, the combined total drainage area for the Arkansas and Red Rivers is slightly less than the total area for Oklahoma.

Arkansas River drainage basin

Red River drainage basin

StreamSystem

1-1

1-21-31-41-5

1-61-7

1-8-11-8-21-8-31-8-41-9

1-101-111-121-13-11-13-2

1-14

1-15-11-15-21-161-17

1-18

Red Riverand

Tributariesa

Main stem of Red River (Kiamichi River to Arkansas state line)Little RiverKiamichi RiverMuddy Boggy CreekMain stem of Red River (Blue River to Kiamichi River)Blue RiverMain stem of Red River (Lake Texoma Dam to Blue River)Lower Washita RiverMiddle Washita RiverUpper Washita RiverWashita River headwatersMain stem of Red River (Walnut Bayou to Lake Texoma Dam)Walnut BayouMud CreekBeaver CreekEast Cache CreekDeep Red Creek and West Cache CreekMain stem of Red River (Cache Creek to North Fork of Red River)Lower North Fork of Red RiverUpper North Fork of Red RiverSalt Fork of Red RiverMain stem of Red River (Salt Fork of Red River to Texas state line)Elm Fork of Red River

Drainage Area

(sq mi)

410

2,2041,8212,551

111

678332

2,6421,6602,2641,027

650

337938862931

1,101

380

1,396860714492

567

24,928b

Total Estimated Available

Water (acre-ft)415,467

2,814,2962,048,6521,957,143

88,800

349,130194,773

422,488299,240329,389

34,420208,000

71,893248,044227,144246,003231,467

44,587

156,99590,636

192,88719,680

69,332

10,760,466

StreamSystem

2-12-2

2-3

2-4

2-5-12-5-22-5-32-5-4

2-6-12-6-22-6-32-72-82-9-12-9-22-9-32-9-42-102-112-12

2-132-142-15-12-15-22-162-17

Arkansas Riverand

Tributariesa

Poteau RiverMain stem of Arkansas River (Cana-dian River to Arkansas state line)Canadian River (to North Canadian River)Main stem of Arkansas River (Key-stone Dam to CanadianRiver)Lower North Canadian RiverMiddle North Canadian RiverUpper North Canadian RiverNorth Canadian River headwatersLower Canadian RiverMiddle Canadian RiverUpper Canadian RiverDeep Fork RiverLittle RiverLower Cimarron RiverMiddle Cimarron RiverUpper Cimarron RiverCimarron River headwatersSalt Fork Arkansas RiverChikaskia RiverMain stem of Arkansas River (Kan-sas state line to Keystone Dam)Bird CreekCaney CreekVerdigris River (to Oologah Dam)Verdigris River (to Kansas state line)Grand (Neosho) RiverIllinois River

Drainage Area

(sq mi)

1,3451,448

410

2,161

1,865758

3,0803,660

2,456948

1,9942,537

9802,0213,8371,795

6972,413

3752,588

1,1361,177

716823

53895

42,168b

Total Estimated Available

Water (acre-ft)

2,412,9681,028,272

2,174,741

1,485,317

537,54655,529

114,2578,839

516,610367,792214,851862,965321,192

1,053,665566,065195,508

27,298648,260429,335

3,310,370

894,284947,012378,532

2,391,31625,324

1,173,01722,140,865

ArkansasRiverbasincontainsabout22,150,000acre-feetof available water. The totals must be adjusted by sub-tracting the sediment pool storage (the portion of a lakeor reservoir reserved for sediment accumulation duringthelifetimeoftheimpoundment)andthevolumeofwaternecessarytoaccommodatedependableyieldsinotherres-ervoirsandlakes.Since1997,theadjustedtotalestimatedavailablewaterwas9,450,000acre-feetfortheRedRiverbasin, and 21,350,000 acre-feet for the Arkansas Riverbasin (Fabian and Kennedy, 1998; Varghese, 1998). The adjustedtotalestimatedavailablewaterisusedtoallocatewaterformunicipal,industrial,andagriculturaluses.